NOUN (2)

1. a fortress built in Paris in the 14th century and used as a prison in the 17th and 18th centuries; it was destroyed July 14, 1789 at the start of the French Revolution;

2. a jail or prison (especially one that is run in a tyrannical manner);

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Bastile \Bas*tile"\ Bastille \Bas*tille"\(b[.a]s*t[=e]l" or
   b[.a]s"t[-e]l; 277), n. [F. bastille fortress, OF. bastir to
   build, F. b[^a]tir.]
   [1913 Webster]
   1. (Feud. Fort.) A tower or an elevated work, used for the
      defense, or in the siege, of a fortified place.
      [1913 Webster]

            The high bastiles . . . which overtopped the walls.
                                                  --Holland.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. "The Bastille", formerly a castle or fortress in Paris,
      used as a prison, especially for political offenders;
      hence, a rhetorical name for a prison.
      [1913 Webster]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

Bastille
    n 1: a fortress built in Paris in the 14th century and used as a
         prison in the 17th and 18th centuries; it was destroyed
         July 14, 1789 at the start of the French Revolution
    2: a jail or prison (especially one that is run in a tyrannical
       manner)